WANTED: several things i'm looking for

nomadcat(6)January 19, 2010

I am new to this board, but live in the mountains of western north carolina. I am very interested in forest gardening and have a few things I am looking for, and a few things to trade. what i am looking for are:

Hi Nomadcat, welcome to the forum! I'm in the middle of moving so I have no plants or seeds to offer but I do have experience with a few things on your list. I brought some Honeyberry with me when I moved to NC and they held on for many years, even bloomed and set fruit. They never really thrived but I had them in very poor soil and in a lot of shade, and I live in Raleigh - so you may have better luck with them. Many people complain that they have no flavor so be careful. I bought my alpine strawberry plants at Home Depot and I also grew them from seed by just scattering the seeds around the yard. The store bought plants have done better than the seed started ones. My yard also has wild strawberries (F. virginiana) but they rarely produce berries. Maypop is very easy from seed. I've harvested seed from wild vines that were loaded with fruit thinking that those seeds would produce highly productive plants - which didn't happen. You'll have to collect the currants from the wild since it is illegal to grow them here. A few people have them but you can't buy them. Horehound and Marshmallow are very easy and some herb gardener in your area should have them. They are one of those plants that once you have them, you'll always have them. The park down the street has a lot of honeylocust up near the walking trail but by this time of year most of the seed pods are gone. They are easy from seed. If you find any growing in the wild, dig a lot of the runners because not all of them will make it.